![]() ![]() I've never heard it, and I still couldn't tell you what it is," Jones said with a laugh. "We would do leg lifts or something, and he 'd say "one for the cow that jumped over the moon." Or he would tell the story about the lady in the shoe, with all the kids in the shoe. Nervous at first knowing his past, James says she was the lucky one who got to hear his stories every day - especially during physical therapy. "He was in infantry, so he never flew an aircraft during his military service."Īshely James was Parker's caregiver and spent the last month with him. "I think it connected him to one of his brothers who was a gunner on the aircraft in WWII," Blansett said. Blansett says the planes would remind him of his brother. The World War II B-24 replica staff have at the museum is an excellent example of one he would ride. Parker loved to ride the war birds when they came to the museum. "He would take time and talk to the kids and just let them ask questions and show interest in them," she said. It's where Executive Director and friend Tonya Blansett says he'd ride in historic warbirds and interact with the kids. But I think it's because we didn't have time to be," Parker said.Ģ News went to one of Parker's favorite places in his later years - the Tulsa Air and Space Museum. "I've been asked a number of times, well, were you scared? No, I wasn't scared. Instead, he was called to fight, ruining his chances. Tech Sergeant Bill Parker almost became a world-champion bull rider. Parker earned two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star during his service. Parker was the last man living from the first wave of soldiers on Omaha Beach.Ģ News had the opportunity to talk to Parker about that experience. Known in the military as Tech Sergeant William Norman Parker, he was one of the first to land on Omaha Beach for the D-Day invasion. Previous coverage > World War II veterans remember the day the war finally ended.Parker, while small in stature, had a larger-than-life impact on those who knew him. ![]() Bill Parker, a 98-year-old World War II veteran from Tulsa, passed away on Sept. ![]()
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